obtained by fraud or malpractice in or by surprise, imposition or deception of the arbitrators, or without due notice to the parties or their attorneys, the court may set aside such award and refuse to give judgment thereon. [Approved April 1, 1878. MISSOURI. An Act to provide for a board of mediation and arbitration for the settlement of differences between employers and their employes. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows: SECTION 1. Upon information furnished by an employer of laborers, or by a committee of employes, or from any other reliable source, that a dispute has arisen between employers and employes, which dispute may result in a strike or lockout, the commissioner of labor statistics and inspection shall at once visit the place of dispute and seek to mediate between the parties, if, in his discretion it is necessary so to do. SEC. 2. If a mediation can not be effected, the commissioner may at his discretion direct the formation of a board of arbitration, to be composed of two employers and two employes engaged in a similar occupation to the one in which the dispute exists, but who are not parties to the dispute, and the commissioner of labor statistics and inspection, who shall be president of the board. SEC. 3. The board shall have power to summon and examine witnesses and hear the matter in dispute, and, within three days after the investigation, render a decision thereon, which shall be published, a copy of which shall be furnished each party in dispute, and shall be final, unless objections are made by either party within five days thereafter: Provided, that the only effect of the investigation herein provided for shall be to give the facts leading to such dispute to the public through an unbiased channel. SEC. 4. In no case shall a board of arbitration be formed when work has been discontinued, either by action of the employer or the employes; should, however, a lockout or strike have occurred before the commissioner of labor statistics could be notified, he may order the formation of a board of arbitration upon resumption of work. SEC. 5. The board of arbitration shall appoint a clerk at each session of the board, who shall receive three dollars per day for his services, to be paid, upon approval by the commissioner of labor statistics, out of the fund appropriated for expenses of the bureau of labor statistics. [Approved April 11, 1889. NORTH DAKOTA. Chapter 46, of the Acts of 1890, defining the duties of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor, has the following:SECTION 7. If any difference shall arise between any corporation or person, employing twenty-five or more employes, and such employes, threatening to result, or resulting in a strike on the part of such employes, or a lockout on the part of such employer, it shall be the duty of the commissioner, when requested so to do by fifteen or more of said employes, or by the employers, to visit the place of such disturbance and diligently seek to mediate between such employer and employes. NEBRASKA. The law creating the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics of the State of Nebraska, defines the duties of the chief officer as follows: SEC. 4. The duties of said commissioner shall be to collect, collate and publish statistics and facts relative to manufacturers, industrial classes, and material resources of the state, and especially to examine into the relations between labor and capital; the means of escape from fire and protection of life and health in factories and workshops, mines and other places of industries; the employment of illegal child labor; the exaction of unlawful hours of labor from any employee; the educational, sanitary, moral, and financial condition of laborers and artisans; the cost of food, fuel, clothing, and building material; the causes of strikes and lockouts, as well as kindred subjects and matters pertaining to the welfare of industrial interests and classes. [Approved March 31, 1887. |